Eastern Ontario Development Fund

Overview of the Eastern Ontario Development Fund program:

The Eastern Ontario Development Fund provides support for projects and investments to existing businesses, municipalities and not-for-profit organizations for economic development in eastern Ontario.

Benefits of the Eastern Ontario Development Fund program:

• The objective of the program is to provide financial support and services to help growing companies in eastern Ontario make investments to:
• Grow their businesses
• Improve productivity
• Invest in innovation and skills development
• Pursue new markets
• Generate broad positive regional economic impact
• Create new good, sustainable jobs
• A project is a distinct undertaking, separate from ongoing operations, that will result in benefits to the organization such as business growth or access to new markets.
• The types of support available include:
• Funding support
• Complementary services and support

Eligibility criteria of the Eastern Ontario Development Fund program:

• Who is eligible
• The fund supports business and community economic development projects.
• Business projects
• To be eligible, businesses need to:
• Have at least 3 years of operations/financial statements
• Employ at least 10 people (or 5 if you are in rural Ontario)
• Commit to creating at least 5 new jobs (or 30% increase for companies with fewer than 15 employees)
• Invest at least $500,000 in their project (or $200,000 if you are in rural Ontario)
• Be located in, or plan to locate in, a community in eastern Ontario
• To be eligible, projects need to:
• Be led by municipalities, economic development organizations or sector organizations
• Focus on economic and business development and job creation in the community or region by investing in infrastructure or implementing strategies to advance regional economic development priorities
• Lead to measurable outcomes including private-sector investment, growth and job creation
• Invest more than $100,000
• Have private sector support
• Be used for activities that are new to the organization